The Reverend Al Sharpton has already questioned Herman Cain’s “African-American credentials”, insinuating that because the candidate is a Conservative, he can’t possibly be a “real” black man. Harry Belafonte has referred to Cain as a “bad apple”, ostensibly for betraying the strange mantra of Black Liberals the land over.

If you’re reminded of a woman — being beaten by her husband — suddenly fighting her defender alongside her attacker, one could hardly blame you, for the Black population ignores the history of who has been actually fighting for them while remaining fiercely loyal to the party that has been their biggest obstacle to freedom and equality.

Democrats have perpetrated the greatest sleight of hand illusion in the history of Man, turning an abysmal record of human rights into a facade of benevolence, all the while successfully vilifying the political party that has for centuries been truly friendly to Blacks. While it seems that no level of education will suffice, I remain committed to the attempt, so let’s revisit a bit of history.

An 1860’s Democrat Poster

Despite the giddy accusations of the enemies of America that one of our Founders, Thomas Jefferson, was himself a slaveholder, he was a member of a society in a time when the cruelty of the practice was not realized. And despite the societal acceptance of it, Jefferson nonetheless felt the tug of moral injustice without the peer pressure of others to force him. He just felt it was wrong.

Nearly a hundred years later, the Democrat Party was still fighting to save the institution of slavery and proudly declaring their disdain for “Negroes”. It was a time that they felt unabashed about such sentiments, as evidenced by the poster to the left, something our children will never see today in a school textbook in spite of its historical significance.

Then there is the recently departed “Liberal Lion” of the Senate, Robert Byrd, who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940’s, rising to the ranks of Kleagle and Exalted Cyclops. In eulogy, former President Bill Clinton mentioned Byrd’s “brief daliance” with the Klan, but the levels to which the deceased Senator rose in that vile organization suggests otherwise. But Clinton’s cavalier excuse for Byrd’s transgression was even more telling; Clinton said that Byrd only joined “to get elected”. Really? That would suggest that in order to get elected as a Democrat, Byrd had to pose as a raging racist.

Byrd once said in opposition to integration of the U.S. Armed forces, “Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.” Lovely fellow, that Robert Byrd. But he did recant and ultimately claim to champion Civil Rights, even though he filibustered the vote in 1964 by holding the floor for 14 hours.

There is also former Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, who famously tried to block the doorway to a school in order to prevent desegregation by keeping Blacks out of the school. Wallace, Democrat. And let’s not forget Lester Maddox, who wielded an axe handle at Negroes, and closed his restaurant in Atlanta rather than serve Blacks. The same Lester Maddox who would become Governor of Georgia as — you guessed it — a Democrat.

Byrd’s Klan Garb

It was Democrats who wrote the Jim Crow laws, who opposed the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, and who opposed anti-lynching legislation for years.

Rush Limbaugh once said that being a Liberal is the laziest, easiest position to take because all it requires is that you notice something and claim that it’s terrible. So the Democrats, after decades and decades of oppressing Black Americans, suddenly embraced them and sobbed how sorry they were. And just like a battered spouse — grateful that the beatings are over — Blacks fell into that false embrace and spurned the party that had actually been fighting for them the whole time.

Herman Cain answered his Black critics succinctly. He stated that he “left that plantation long ago”. Hopefully, he can get a large portion of the Black population to follow suit.